Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Eating my foot

Oy, I've gotta make this quick this morning. I keep thinking I'll get used to these early mornings, but no, it's torture rising when it's still dark.

Had a student join the class yesterday after having been absent the first week. As I normally do, I try to get to know the student a bit, so I peppered her with the usual questions. "Where do you live?" " How long have you worked here?" "Do you have any kids?" etc. After revealing that she had four kids aged 8 -18, I asked about the father. She announced that he had died last month. I apologized and offered requisite condolences. Then I brought my foot up and crammed it into my mouth asking, "And who is watching the kids while you're here at work?" She immediatley burst into tears and I went into damage control mode, moving quickly onto something else.

There was so much pain there, just waiting to jump out, only I didn't see it.

13 comments:

But there was absolutely nothing intentionally harsh about what you were asking, it was simply an honest question - and I'm sure she'll realise that if she hasn't already. Don't give yourself a hard time about it.

Same here. I'm sure that when she thought about it she realized you definitely had good intentions. She's probably been breaking into tears easily ever since her husband died, so don't take it personally. What a terrible thing to happen to someone.